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Episode 1408: The Best Players of the Decade
Date July 24, 2019 Summary Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller, and Meg Rowley banter about “minimum innings,” striking out the side, and an anecdote about Barry Larkin bunting, then spend the rest of the episode answering a listener request to name the five best hitters and five best pitchers of the decade—but to make matters more interesting, they do so without looking at WAR and then compare their picks to the stats at the end. Topics * Choosing the five best hitters and pitchers of the decade * Methodology for choosing the best players of the decade * Mike Trout * Joey Votto * Jason Heyward * Buster Posey * Adrian Beltre * Miguel Cabrera * Robinson Cano * Andrew McCutchen * Clayton Kershaw * Justin Verlander * Max Scherzer * Chris Sale * Zack Greinke * Madison Bumgarner * Felix Hernandez * Zack Greinke & Jeff Mathis' wRC+ Intro Hot Snakes, "This Mystic Decade" Outro The Muppets, "Mah Na Mah Na" Banter * Episode 1405 follow-up: Sam wants to call a three-pitch inning a minimum inning. Meg feels very differently, saying "I don't know that I've ever disagreed with you more strongly". They discuss several other words or phrases they find hard to say including 'Arnold Palmer' and 'Museum' * Episode 1407 follow-up: Sam is bewildered by an anecdote he read about Barry Larkin bunting in 1995. In the 1st inning of a game with runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out, Larkin repeatedly ignored a hit sign and struck out trying to bunt. * The story about Larkin reminds Meg of a game in spring training where Zack Greinke deliberately threw slower to see if pitch location was more important than velocity. Email Question * Marcus: "Effectively Wild, now that we're in the last season of this decade who are your top five position players and top five pitchers of this decade?" Best Position Players of the Decade Best Pitchers of the Decade Notes * Sam has a list of thirty players he considered for the top of the decade. At the last moment he decided to put Joey Votto as fifth on his list, bumping off Jason Heyward. * In this decade Buster Posey is 2nd in fWAR but 9th in bWAR. * Ben and Meg both regret their Miguel Cabrera pick after Sam announces his Robinson Cano pick. * Sam's top five picks for position players are the top five players by fWAR in the last decade. All seven of the players named were in the top seven for fWAR. * Zack Greinke has a 113 wRC+ this season. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 1408: The Best Players of the Decade * Barry Larkin and Ron Gant Have Lifted Cincy To The Top Of The National League Central by Franz Lidz * Greinke velocity story * A Zack Greinke Story by Joe Posnanski * Jeff's tweet about Zack Greinke * Zack Greinke's Climb Towards Cooperstown by Jay Jaffe * Adrian Beltre's Excellence Snuck Up on Everyone by Ben Lindbergh * Baseball Reference batting WAR leaderboard 2010-19 * FanGraphs batting WAR leaderboard 2010-19 * Baseball Reference pitching WAR leaderboard 2010-19 * FanGraphs pitching WAR leaderboard 2010-19 Category:Episodes Category:Draft Episodes